Page 57 of Pride, Prejudice & Wicked Pleasure

“Are you all right?”

She let out a haggard breath, then nodded.

He licked her there once more, appraised her reaction, and licked her a third time. She trembled with every touch. How lewd and naughty was the act! How provocative! His tongue tickled at first, but the lapping of the warm, moist, thick and uneven flesh against hers soon ignited that sublime agitation. The strokes of his tongue were a wholly different sensation, and he never seemed to fail at finding the spot that excited her most. Pleasure reverberated through her legs. A few times he allowed his tongue to slide lower, and she found the pressure along her slit produced an ache inside her most sacred place, a desire for more pressure. She had not thought she could be aroused so quickly after spending but a few moments before, but when all resistance had subsided and she could fully glory in his skills, it seemed the swell of her previous tide assisted a new one in lifting her higher and higher till her toes curled and her fingers dug into the sheets.

She cried out as she reached her climax.

He held her in place as he wrung the last of her spasms from her body, till his touch became jarring and uncomfortable. When the final shudders had subsided and she could catch her breath, she stared at the canopy above in amazement of her own body.

“Would you care for a third or is the time now short?” he inquired.

A third time? Was that possible?

She flushed to see the glisten of her wetness about his mouth and chin. She glanced at a clock upon the far wall and sat up quickly in response.

“I ought to return before my absence calls attention,” she said.

He went to retrieve her clothing and lent her the assistance of a chambermaid. Oddly, she felt more embarrassed dressing before him than she had felt when he had disrobed her.

“No cosmetic can enhance the loveliness in a woman more effectively than the glow of spending,” he said after he had finished buttoning her dress. “Pray, do not dwell in shame. You are entitled to the pleasures of your own body.”

“Thank you for your compassion—and the lesson. Perhaps your concern would be lessened if you were not so accomplished an instructor.”

He stiffened.

“Ah! Someone who despises compliments as much as I!” She smiled.

He seemed to relax.

“Do not worry of me, sir. I am quite capable of handling myself and do not intend to torture myself with guilt and shame, even if I may not be indifferent to them.”

He shifted in awkward silence.

“Your handkerchief,” he presented at last.

To relieve him of his unease, she presented him her hand. He held it for a moment longer than necessary before placing a kiss upon it.

“Thank you for the lesson,” she said, feeling more herself. “Good night and God bless.”

He only nodded.

She took her leave of him, thinking her instructor a rather strange fellow.

*****

“Where have you been, Eliza?” Maria worried when Lizzy had returned to the Parsonage. “That was quite a long ride. I had become a bit frightened being alone, and in a home not my own.”

Lizzy apologized and hoped that it would not happen again. Fortune seemed to smile upon her, for Mr. Collins and Charlotte had not arrived before her, and she soon learnt that after Easter, Mr. Collins was to spend two days in the neighboring parish that had recently installed a new rector, and Lady Catherine had recommended Mr. Collins bestow some of his earned knowledge on the good cleric. Ever eager to please his patroness, Mr. Collins could not thank her ladyship enough for the compliment. It was decided that the ladies, moreover, would make a day of perusing the local millinery and haberdashery. Lizzy said nothing, for she had every intention of begging out of the excursion.

With a giddiness uncommon to her, Lizzy wrote of this news to Abby and it was arranged that Lizzy was to have her third lesson in a few days’ time. Pleased with the impending opportunity, Lizzy enjoyed with increased fervor the company of those at the Parsonage, agreeing with Charlotte and Maria’s admiration of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s manners and their sentiment that he must add considerably to the pleasures of their engagements at Rosings. It was some days, however, before they received any invitation thither—for while there were visitors in the house, they could not be necessary; and it was not till Easter day, almost a week after the gentlemen's arrival, that they were honoured by such an attention, and then they were merely asked upon leaving church to come there in the evening. For the last week they had seen very little of Lady Catherine or her daughter. Colonel Fitzwilliam had called at the Parsonage more than once during the time, but Mr. Darcy they had seen only at church.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

For some time, Darcy could not bring himself to speak to Miss Elizabeth. He envied his cousin’s trips to the Parsonage and had been sorely tempted more than once to join the Colonel. His cousin had looked baffled enough when Darcy declined, no doubt wondering why he was choosing the company of Lady Catherine over the company of a lovely and articulate young woman. Darcy knew it was Miss Elizabeth, and not the virtues of anyone else, who drew his cousin to the Parsonage. Though Lady Catherine would not have objected to the visits, Darcy was disinclined to provoke her after upsetting her with his call to Trenwith House.

As he had predicted, when he had returned that evening, he was summoned to Lady Catherine’s anteroom and received her caution and advice in full. Having spent two hours formulating her case, she was more superfluous than ever in her argument. He had listened to her politely and attentively, and had not been moved to speak a word till she had mentioned that she had advised Miss Elizabeth Bennet of the same and was satisfied that the young woman had taken her counsel.

“Miss Bennet?” Darcy echoed, his heart stalling.